32 things to do in Metro Vancouver on Saturday, December 24

Looking for something to do on Saturday? The Straight’s got you covered. Here are 32 events happening in or around Vancouver on Saturday, December 24.

CONCERTS

Local smooth-jazz player Gabriel Hasselbach perform a Christmas Eve show at Ten Ten Tapas.

BENEFITS

Vote on your favourite gingerbread creation and get your photo with Santa at Grouse Mountain, with proceeds to SOS Children’s Village B.C.'s programs and homes for local foster children and homeless youth.

The ongoing Lights of Hope Christmas lights display at St. Paul's Hospital raises funds for the St. Paul's Foundation.

ETCETERA

Experience a winter wonderland at Bloedel Conseratory's Holiday Heights at Bloedel, complete with magical lights, festive music, a holiday scavenger hunt, seasonal activities, and a Ferris-wheel ride.

See the world's tallest Christmas tree, sing along with the holiday band, and stroll through the lights decorating the suspension bridge, Treetops Adventure, Cliffwalk, rainforest, and canyon at Capilano Suspension Bridge's Canyon Lights.

The Vancouver Christmas Market continues at Jack Poole Plaza, featuring traditional German cuisine, mulled wine, gingerbread, German beer, a Christmas pyramid, a large heated tent overlooking the North Shore, entertainment, a carousel, and vendors selling gifts and treasures.

The Festival of Lights at VanDusen Botanical Garden features over one-million twinkling lights, a carousel, a dancing-lights show, the Make-A-Wish candle grotto, and photos with Santa.

KIDS' STUFF

Help Santa search for his missing elves during an exhilarating simulated flight-ride experience across Canada and on to the North Pole at Flyover Canada.

The Vancouver Aquarium hosts holiday highlights such as Scuba Claws, a holiday tree lit by power generated by an electric eel, origami jellyfish, a marine-debris tree, and a 4-D screening of The Polar Express.

Experience the holiday-themed lights, displays, and live performers along the miniature-train route at Bright Nights in Stanley Park, with proceeds to the B.C. Professional Fire Fighters' Burn Fund.

GALLERIES

Walker Evans: Depth of Field at the Vancouver Art Gallery features more than 200 black and white and colour prints from the 1920s through to the 1970s.

Juxtapoz x Superflat exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery offers a unique insight into contemporary art and its place in cultural life.

Stare exhibition at Vancouver Art Gallery features photographic works that evoke a fixed and concentrated gaze on the part of artist and viewer.

MUSEUMS

Layers of Influence: Unfolding Cloth Across Cultures at the Museum of Anthropology at UBC features more than 130 diverse cultural garments, from Japanese kimonos, to colourful Indian saris, to the elaborate feather cloaks of the Maori people of Aotearoa/New Zealand.

The Museum of Anthropology at UBC hosts an exhibition that features the carvings of Papua New Guinea's Iatmul people.

At the Museum of Vancouver, you can explore the cultural power and significance of collecting through wall-to-wall displays of unconventional objects.

THEATRE

Performance at the York Theatre of East Van Panto: Little Red Riding Hood, Theatre Replacement's pantomime that sees Little Red Riding Hood battling bike thieves, distracted drivers, and the Big Bad Wolf.

The Arts Club Theatre Company presents Avenue Q--the musical story of Princeton, a bright-eyed college graduate who arrives in New York City looking for love, a job, and his purpose in life--at Granville Island Stage.

The Arts Club Theatre Company presents The Day Before Christmas--about a perfectionist who is desperately juggling family and work as she attempts to create the perfect Christmas--at the Goldcorp Stage at the BMO Theatre Centre.

Carousel Theatre for Young People presents A Charlie Brown Christmas at the Waterfront Theatre.

The Arts Club Theatre Company presents Mary Poppins--a musical based on the stories of P.L. Travers and the Walt Disney film--at the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage.

ATTRACTIONS

Robson Square Ice Rink offers free ice-skating in downtown Vancouver, with skate rental available.

Grouse Mountain resort features a Skyride to the peak with views of Vancouver and the Pacific Ocean, as well as skiing and snowboarding, snowshoeing, ice skating, mountain ziplines, and the Peak of Christmas.

Edgewater Casino offers 24-hour gaming, over 60 table games, a poker room, a high-limit section, 500 slot machines, restaurants and lounges, and live entertainment, including concerts and televised UFC events.

Mount Seymour features skiing and snowboarding lessons from the Mt. Seymour Ski and Snowboard School, tubing and tobogganing, and snowshoe trails.

Cypress Mountain features skiing and snowboarding lessons, snowtubing park, cross-country ski trails, downhill skiing and snowboarding trails, and snowshoeing tours.

MOVIES

Screening at the Rio Theatre of Terry Swigoff's raunchy 2003 Christmas comedy Bad Santa, starring Billy Bob Thornton.

Screening at Vancity Theatre of Spirit Unforgettable, Pete McCormack's documentary about Spirit of the West singer John Mann's struggle with early-onset Alzheimer's.

Free screening at the Vancouver Public Library of the animated Christmas movie Polar Express.

Screenings at Vancity Theatre of The Mermaid as part of the Best of 2016 Series.

Screening at the Rio Theatre of the 1989 Christmas comedy National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, starring Chevy Chase.

Screening at Vancity Theatre of the Royal Opera House presentation of director John Schlesinger's The Tales of Hoffman. 

For all the latest Metro Vancouver event announcements and updates follow @VanHappenings.